Real-time detection of road signs, such as speed limit and stop signs, can be incorporated into driver safety and driver behavior solutions to provide situational awareness of driver behavior and to facilitate safer vehicle operation.
Many automobiles today incorporate numerous safety features to assist the driver. For example, antilock brakes assist a driver in stopping a car faster than otherwise possible, even enabling steering with fully applied brakes. Some manufacturers have incorporated technology for detecting potentially dangerous driver behavior, for example, drowsiness. These systems, however, are not aware of conditions in the world outside the automobile. For example, the technology used to detect drowsiness relies upon factors such as frequency of steering wheel corrections, or detection of the driver's eye position.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,623,248 entitled “Automatic Asset Detection, Location Measurement and Recognition,” published Jul. 26, 2007 and commonly assigned, describes a survey vehicle which uses a laser to scan a nearby region through which the vehicle passes to detect and recognize objects such as road signs. This system enables municipalities to inventory signs on their premises, and to detect information about those signs, for example, whether they require replacement.